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(USPS PS S4 439-500) 39 9 500)) Posey County’s locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Volume 133 Edition 41
Democrat cries ‘politics’ as GOP makes bold move By Valerie Werkmeister A surprise move by two Posey County Commissioners has one commissioner upset by their ‘politics.’ Commissioner President Carl Schmitz proposed the removal of the three appointees to the Posey County Redevelopment Commission during their October 1 meeting. Schmitz stated he had done some research into the commission’s activity and could not find minutes of any recent meetings. “From what we have gathered, they have maybe met one time in July of this year. We can find no minutes on it. I’ve contacted George Postletheweight and he said he wasn’t even invited to it.” Postletheweight serves on the Commission and is married to Republican Posey County Clerk Betty Postletheweight. Schmitz stated he asked the commissioner’s executive assistant, Keely Winiger
to determine when the group had held meetings. Schmitz stated they found minutes from meetings held in 2005, 2007 and 2009 in which they met one time. Winiger advised the commission did meet this year and the reason minutes could not be located was due to a Chamber of Commerce staff member leaving their position. Brittany Johnson spoke up and also stated the minutes were recorded and board member Mike Ashworth had them. Despite this information, Schmitz contended that the group’s inactivity led him to propose the new members. Commissioner Jerry Walden was in agreement with his proposal and seconded the motion to propose new members. Winiger further stated that it wasn’t clear whether the commission was required to meet if there wasn’t a need or topic to discuss. She also expressed concern over the
bonding issue. All of the current members, that include Ashworth, James Scarafia, Rodney Wade and Gary Thiem, are bonded. She did not know whether their bonds would transfer to new members or if those members would need to secure new bonds. Lone Democratic Commissioner Jim Alsop, blindsided by the proposal, spoke in opposition to the proposal. “This reeks of politics. I never thought we were going to get to this point. You guys have the authority to do that. I will not sign the document. The people that have been on there have done a good job. They’ve worked at it. They haven’t had meetings because there haven’t been items [to discuss]. The fertilizer plant, at this point in time, has not identified a site. I know Mr. Ashworth has worked very hard on this. You guys do what you need to do, but I disagree with it.” Schmitz asked Attorney William H. Bend-
er to read a resolution he had prepared prior to the meeting. The resolution 2013-10-0101 outlined the new members who include William Gillenwater III, Terry Gottman and George Postletheweight as the three new voting members. Linda O’Risky was named as a non-voting member. All their terms will expire on December 31, 2014. The motion passed on a 2-1 vote with Alsop voting against it. Walden added that he hoped the new board would be active and meet since he foresees a lot of things coming down the pike in Posey County’s future. One of the main purposes of the Redevelopment Commission is to create Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts when new businesses or industry comes into the county. Their most recent meeting was held on
Annexation of west Mount Vernon will help income By Lois Mittino Gray The City of Mount Vernon expanded in size when three parcels of land were added to the tax rolls at the Common Council meeting on October 3. After public hearings and discussion, these areas were annexed into the city on third reading of the ordinances. They are Lakeview Place B Lots 12-19, an out lot on West Ridge Drive, and the Western Hills Country Club clubhouse, and a nearby residential home. The golf course is not included in the legal annexation. Council Member Brian Jeffries inquired if there had been feedback from the public after a ‘spirited discussion’ at the last meeting on the Country Club annexation. At that time, Councilman Andy Hoehn spoke publicly against the annexation which he felt would be too costly for the club, but there were no comments and Hoehn was not present for the vote. City Attorney Beth McFadin Higgins pointed out that these three areas are already receiving municipal services, such as sewer and water. The annexations do not go into effect until January 1, 2014. In other legal matters, Mayor John Tucker called to order two public hearings on ordinances facing second reading. No remonstrators were present for the hearing on 2014 tax rates and appropriations and 2014 salaries and wages for appointed officers and employees. The other hearing was for special appropriations from the EDIT Fund for riverfront improvements, police and fire building, new phone systems and street paving. An ordinance to raise monthly trash fees from $8.60 to $10 had its second reading and a weed ordinance passed raising fines for fourth time violators and changing the weed enforcement responsible officer. The area around ATI was zoned from residential to M2 medium manufacturing. In other board action: • Under old business, Council Member Bill Curtis reported on progress with the Ninth Street area neighborhood problem. “Residents are experiencing stepped up patrols and I feel action is being taken. We will be getting in touch with landlords in the future and looking at ordinances on nuisance areas,” he said. Police Chief Grant Beloat reported that from September 1630, there was 161 extra walking or driving patrols in the neighborhood. “This is an average of 11 extra in a 24-hour day,” Curtis noted. • Mayor Tucker appointed Becky Higgins to head the 2016 Mount Vernon Bicentennial Celebration Committee and announced the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new sewer plant on October 24 at noon with IDEM officials in attendance. Light lunch will be served.
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Bicentennial celebration committee to mark birthday
Celebrating the grand opening at the Poseyville Fire Department on Sunday afternoon are clowns Pack Rat and Rooster who made balloon animals for Landon Crawford and Brendon Mason. Photo by Dave Pearce
City’s utility policy is questioned
Landlord says local ordinance may not pass state test By Lois Mittino Gray Can a landlord be held responsible for a large delinquent water and sewage bill amassed by a tenant who skips town? This question was asked by landlord Bennie Watson at the Mount Vernon Board of Public Works meeting on October 3. “I feel the city is negligent on this as due process is not provided for me as a landlord and now there is a lien placed on my property,” Watson explained. “A tenant can open a faucet and run water for three months and run up hundreds of dollars in bills and I would not know until after the fact. I feel this is taxation without representation. Other landlords and I feel that it is not right that we have to pay someone else’s bill.” Board Member Bill Curtis had an ordinance in hand passed by the city outlining the process of foreclosure and lien on a property if municipal bills are not paid. It requires a landlord to register a request to be notified if the fees are delinquent. He explained the ordinance was passed based on state code guidelines. Watson countered with a section of the state code that stated the landlords should not be held accountable. “You can pass an ordinance here, but it may not be legal with state code,” he said. Watson used the analogy of the recent license branch fee refund. “They passed ordinances to collect these fees, but it wasn’t legal and now they have to give refunds.” Curtis acknowledged that both sides had two different sections of the code in hand and ordinances to
look at and he would assign this matter to City Attorney Beth McFadin Higgins. “We will get back in touch with you quickly. We need to make sure our process and procedure is correct,” he assured Watson. In other board action: • Mayor John Tucker proudly announced that a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new sewer plant will take place on Thursday, October 24 at noon at the plant. “This is the completion of the combined sewer overflow project and we expect IDEM Commissioner Easterly to come down for it.” Board Member Steve Fuelling added, “He is the main man there and we impressed him enough with our work at the new plant that he wants to see it now that it’s all finished.” Sandwiches and drinks will be served. • Police Chief Grant Beloat received approval to add extra patrols in October due to Halloween hijinx. • Michael Allen’s appeal for his weed cutting bill at 532 East Third Street was denied. After receiving a written notice, he cut them on September 8. There were still high weeds all around and the city cut them on September 17 and sent a bill. It was all documented in pictures and after looking at them the Board agreed the cutting was necessary. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” the mayor quipped. • Bill Curtis, Rodney Givens, and Chuck Gray received permission to use the city credit card to attend the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns conference in Indianapolis on October 6-8.
Mount Vernon High School Homecoming Court Members: Front left: Freshmen attendants, Adam Duckworth and Chance McClarney; Front right, Junior attendants, Abbie Randall and Mitchell Jackson; Back left, Senior King and Queen Candidates, Olivia M. Martin and Nick Magruder; Center, Senior King and Queen Candidates, Mackenzie McClarney and Evan Slygh; Back right, Senior King and Queen Candidates, Kendyl Scheller and Micheal Stephens-Emerson. Photo submitted
Retrospective ...........A 4 Legals .......................... B 7 Classifieds ............B8-10 Community ..............A 5
Deaths ........................A 3 Church ........................A 7 Social ..........................A 6 School .........................A 8
Sports .......................B1-6 Bus/Ag ........................A 9 Opinion ......................A 2 www.poseycountynews.com
By Lois Mittino Gray After Mayor John Tucker appointed her Mount Vernon Bicentennial Chairman, Council Member-at-Large Becky Higgins accepted the torch and started to run with it. In fact, just this week she is contacting the Indiana State Bicentennial Chairman to make sure the official bicentennial torch relay goes through Mount Vernon on its way around the state to celebrate its 200th year. The City of Mount Vernon and the State of Indiana will both be celebrating their Bicentennial in 2016. A torch will be passed around the state then and Higgins would love for it to start here in the tip of the toe where the city is celebrating its own birthday. “If I arrange it early enough, then maybe we can get it done,” she said enthusiastically. One of Higgins’ first actions was to create a Bicentennial Executive Board. Members include Sheila Naab of Sabic; Joe Crissup, CGB Plant Superintendent; Mark Isaac of United Fidelity Bank; Attorney Trent VanHaften; and Mike Russell. “This committee will serve as the watchdog committee over everything,” she said. Higgins also will have a large planning committee and will need ‘lots of people to volunteer.’ To help get volunteers and build interest, Higgins created a Facebook page called Mount Vernon 200th Birthday this week. “It had 102 likes in just its first hour,” she beamed.
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Mount Vernon High School Homecoming Court Members: Sophomore attendants, Gabrielle Pyle and Kyle Lang. Photo submitted